ddEvery website owner has been compelled to think considerably more carefully about how they handled their visitors’ data since 2018, when the GDPR went into full effect. Because of the potential for significant regulatory penalties, it is important to follow these tight requirements.
Web design companies are also not exempt from responsibility in this regard. According to GDPR, every website you are working on that offers products or services or keeps track of customers online activity must abide by its rules.
Are you aware of GDPR?
If your response to my first question was yes, you should reconsider. The time is running out. If like most websites, you built yours on an open-source platform, most of the extra functionality on your site will be made possible by third-party plug-ins. Some cookies have a lifespan of decades, so you might still have a problem with something you thought had been replaced long ago. They may be undetected and possibly unauthorized.
The basic line is that the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has a major problem with this, and small businesses like many of our clients—dental offices, independent merchants, B&Bs, and trades—are all equally responsible as the big corporations.
Here we discuss the 9 things web design agencies should know about GDPR:
1. The personal information being collected should be fully transparent
The website owner is required by law to respond promptly when a visitor asks about the data collected on the site. The procedure must be as simple and hassle-free as feasible on a website that complies with GDPR. Users also have the right to ask for their data to be updated or deleted at any time, even if they ask for it to be retrieved through a service like Incognito.
2. Finish the data inventory
Understanding the data your business gathers saves, processes, and transfers are the first step toward GDPR compliance. Any business should perform this exercise. You are compelled to consider how your business processes are related to data.
By outlining what you do, why you do it, and how you do it, you might identify areas for process improvement or simplification. Do you need to collect all of the information you do? Exist any better or more secure methods for gathering and storing it? You can lower risk by simplifying what you collect and how you acquire it.
3. You have 72 hours to report data breaches
In the unfortunate event of a data breach, it must be reported to the ICO and the affected person within 72 hours or fewer. If any such breaches occur, the web design company operator must have a solid plan for handling them.
4. To provide the best security, collaborate with your client
Web design companies now have to act as NJ web designers and cyber security experts due to the advent of GDPR. It teaches clients how to mitigate cyber security risks and encrypt website databases.
5. Examine your current lists and purge your information
Even though we all know it could be better, some buy email lists. With GDPR rapidly approaching, the moment has come to a stop buying lists and thoroughly clean your data permanently. Your information must be full, including information at the national level and – most importantly – consent. Before it’s too late, spend some time auditing your data and filling in the gaps.
6. Examine your processes for defending individual rights
The new legislation covers the DPA’s guiding principles, albeit with important improvements. The essential thing in this situation is to make sure you have the processes in place to comply with requests from people to receive their information from you electronically. In a format they are familiar with, for instance.
Under the GDPR, people’s primary rights are to:
Permit the subject access
- Repair errors
- Remove data
- Stop direct marketing
- Stop automated decision-making and profiling
- And allow data portability (as per the paragraph above)
7. Your site design company might be at fault
It would help if you were prepared to assume some of these duties and serve as their data protection officer because some of your clients might have second thoughts about taking on the legal responsibility of becoming GDPR compliant.
8. Use consent-based prompts
All visitors must be notified about the types of personal data gathered and their intended uses under GDPR. Presenting a consent prompt at the moment of the entrance is the simplest method to achieve this. The prompt should only let them through if they provide their permission; the last thing you want is to show a pointless popup that disregards the user’s preference.
9. Create a strict privacy policy
An NJ web design company must develop a privacy policy that can withstand scrutiny. Furthermore, it should be positioned to be visible and reachable. It should be a relatively easy effort because various GDPR-compliant privacy policy generators are available. It should, among other things, make cookie usage as visible as possible and clearly state how the users’ data is handled.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the GDPR is all about choice, security, and transparency. Users need to know how long their data will be kept, what it is used for and what it is being saved for. Additionally, they must be able to expressly approve or disapprove the gathering and use of that data. These actions may seem like a lot to ask of a very modest site that EU people may or may not visit.
However, if GDPR compliance is built into a website, that information is easier than it might initially seem. Additionally, adhering to GDPR is a smart practice that will increase user confidence in a website.